The new national director of the DPJ “cleans the cobwebs”

When she arrived as reinforcement last fall, at the head of a Department of Youth Protection (DPJ) mired in controversies, Lesley Hill promised to “clear the cobwebs in the house”.

After her first weeks on the job, she says she found several. His tour of the youth protection network highlighted gaps. I will play the transparency cardshe candidly tells us in an interview with -.

The first two weeks, I was panicking at home thinking, “Oh my God! What am I going to do?” But it seems that the further I go, the clearer it becomes to meshe explains.

She notes that security must be strengthened in three ways in youth centers: by reviewing the use of restraint measures with agitated young people; by better supervising the hiring of personnel; and paying particular attention to the obsolescence of network installations.

Staff recruitment: Things went wrong

There is no doubt for Lesley Hill that we need to recruit network speakers more carefully. According to the new national director of the DPJreforms imposed over the years as well as the pandemic have contributed to the loss good practices in terms of human resources.

In rehabilitation centers, you previously had to be a minimum age to be on the floor. We can have young offenders who are there until the age of 21. Imagine a young 19 year old educator with 21 year old guys. It’s explosive! It’s like asking for trouble!

Ms. Hill therefore wishes to reimpose minimum age thresholds to assume certain responsibilities. She also thinks that training must be more robust.

We compressed training with the pandemic. There has been no training for almost five years. With staff turnover and mobility, we can have [des gens] who only have initial training on the floor.

She deplores the lack of supervision and support after hiring. Mentoring could therefore be part of the solutions. Ideally, a young educator should be able to say that he or she is becoming too attached to a young person. We need to talk about it to regain the necessary distance.

Ms. Hill is referring to the sexual scandal that occurred at the Cité-des-Prairies youth center in Montreal, which led to the dismissal of four educators.

When you work in a difficult environment like that, when you’re young and just out of school, you have all the goodwill in the world. You want to change the universe! But you are very, very at risk of falling into sympathy and slipping from your professional role into an overly intimate relationship.analyse Lesley Hill.

The complexity of Santé Québec

Lesley Hill consulted with the Department of Public Safety on how to screen applications.

Do we check the morality of the person, what we call the absence of impediment? Do we take references? Does the person understand their role as authority and know their code of ethics? These are all elements that we need to look at at the front doorexplains Ms. Hill.

The national director of the DPJ claims to have also contacted the human resources manager at the Ministry of Health in order to review staff supervision after hiring. But there is a complexity hereshe admits.

Now, human resources is Santé Québec. It’s a new player in the environment, so we had to grab the new VP who takes care of human resources at Santé Québec. Already, I can hear people saying: “Oh my God, that sounds complicated!” Yes, it’s complicated!

Remember that before her appointment, Ms. Hill called on Minister Christian Dubé to ensure that Santé Québec does not neglect the social services of Quebecers. It’s a bit my job to mix things up and push people to put in place what is neededshe said.

She also calls for the collaboration of the Ministry of Justice to reduce the judicialization of court cases. DPJ. More intensive use of mediation in youth protection cases could help unclog the courts, according to Lesley Hill.

More managers on the ground

The new boss of the DPJ believes that it is necessary to increase the ratio of managers and clinical supervisors in the network.

Everyone says: managers must be cut! It doesn’t matter, a manager! They are bureaucrats! But in a youth center, local management is very important.

As for the deterioration of the buildings of certain youth centers, she says she asked a quick assessment of the dilapidated state of the installations.

Restore pride in working at the DPJ

Another project that Lesley Hill is tackling concerns the motivation of stakeholders. The controversies reported in the media have devalued the profession, according to her. Good moves must shine.

I am really saddened because there are social workers who told me: “When people ask me what I do, I no longer even dare say that I work at the DPJ. I simply say that I work with young people.” However, even in the establishments where I discovered cobwebs, I saw beautiful things!

To achieve your objectives, you do not necessarily need more money, but above all you need to review your ways of doing things.

On the other hand, I would say that, in a difficult budgetary context, we must protect the budgets for youth and social services. We must ensure that budgets dedicated to the most vulnerable people in society are preserved.

This responsibility falls to the Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant. Lesley Hill wants assurance that she will not lose her means with the arrival of Santé Québec, the umpteenth reform that is shaking up the field.